More Than This
by Fly On By
Summary: When Bella moves to Forks to live with her Dad, she's excited to hear that Fork's High School has a girl soccer team. But what happens when she meets a certain bronze haired coach? Will he help her to achieve all her goals, both personal as well as on the field? Will their age difference cause problems? AH
1. Chapter 1

"We have arrived at Port Angeles Airport, please wait until the plane has come to a full stop to begin collecting your belongings. The local time is 5:30 in the afternoon, and the skies are cloudy. We thank you for flying with us this evening."

I looked out the window with a massive smile on my face, this was going to be the first time I saw my dad in several years. Sure he had called me and tried to visit, but my mother and her new husband Phil, who was a pro baseball player, always had other obligations and we couldn't make time. They had recently gotten married and wanted to have a life where nothing was tying them down, so I volunteered to go live with my dad in Forks.

Looking around I noticed everyone else was ready to get off this plane as much as I was. Flying all the way from luminous Florida to overcast Washington, was exhausting and I was glad I opted for my usual t-shirt and soccer sweats. However, no matter how comfy I may have felt I didn't manage to fall asleep at all during the flight.

The plane came to a complete stop and everyone quickly started getting off the plane. Being in the back I knew that we were last to leave, so I was in no haste to get off. Soon enough it was my turn to grab my bag from the overhead compartment, but being my height, I struggled to grab it from the back where it had been pushed to.

A pair of hands came to my rescue and grabbed my bag for me. When I turned to grab it from the person, I was met with the most captivating green eyes. I was silent for a moment until I realized everyone was waiting for me. Feeling the heat rush to my cheeks I quickly said, "Thank you," and I practically made a break for it.

I quickly got out of the plane and I started trying to find the baggage claim. Several signs directed me to the section where my baggage would arrive, and as I made my way in that direction, I realized that the man who helped me earlier was walking rather close to me. As we walked I tried to sneak glances at the man walking next to me. He was clearly older than me, looking in his mid twenties. He had a perfectly square jaw line that was graced with just the right amount of stubble. He had unruly bronze hair that looked more like a sexy bed head. Whoa Bella, sexy?

Shaking my head I started walking a little bit faster. Searching the screen for my flight's baggage, I found it right at the very end. The man was walking nearby to me, also waiting for his luggage. I let out an impatient sigh as I saw that out of all the luggage that was coming out, none of them were mine. The man was lucky and quickly found his and I looked over at him, he gave me an amicable smile as he started walking away. I then saw a beautiful woman come up to him and plaster a rather passionate kiss on his lips.

Great a girlfriend, of course. Sighing to myself I decided to focus on the task at hand. But that was short lived as I heard someone call my name. Responding, I turned around to see Charlie smiling at me. Charlie was my dad, and because my mom left him when I was young, I never really got into calling him dad. It was some sort of a mutual understanding we had.

Beaming at him as well, I walked over to give him a tight hug. He was a normally stoic man, showing little emotion, but I could tell he was happy to see me.

"How was your flight Bells?" He asked calmly.

I shrugged, "It was alright, pretty smooth. I'm more worried about Athena though." Athena was my beautiful Border Collie, who was honestly my best friend. She went everywhere with me, so it was logical that she would come with me to live with Charlie.

"Is that her over there?" He asked, pointing to a suitcase leaning against a dog kennel, with an alert and not happy Athena staring at me.

I gave him a quick nod, and smiling, I jogged over there and knelt down, petting her through the bars. "Hey girl! I know you're excited but I can't let you out just yet."Being the intelligent dog that she was, she seemed to understand me, and laid back down, her tail still wagging happily.

Charlie and I made our way out of the small airport and I let Athena out before we started walking to the car. She started barking and jumping around, excited to be out of her cage. She made her way to Charlie and sniffed him cautiously, then wagged her tail and started jumping around again.

Laughing at her we made our way to the police cruiser parked in the parking lot. "Really Dad? Did you have to pick me up in the cruiser?"

He gave a small chuckle and replied, "Of course, I have to scare off all the boys who are looking at my daughter!"

Being very unladylike, I snorted at his comment. As we drove out of the small airport, I noticed how dreary and gloomy it was outside. "I almost forgot how cloudy it was here."

Charlie nodded and looked out the window himself, "Well actually, this is pretty good weather."

I let out a groan, "Really? Well at least I won't have to worry about Athena getting too hot." She barked as he heard her name, tail wagging. "I almost forgot, look at what I have here!" I pulled out a squeaky toy out of my bag, and tossed it to her. She caught it in her mouth happily and started playing with it.

The car ride was about an hour long, and for the rest of the time Charlie and I talked about various things, such as soccer, school, and his job. When we made it to the house I almost got teary eyed. It looked as if my mother and I had never left. The inside of the house was exactly the same, no new furniture, nothing was rearranged.

Charlie carried my luggage inside and I grabbed all of Athena's things. He led me to my room, which surprised me this time. Instead of looking like a five year old lived there, it was a room made for a much older resident. It had a queen sized bed, with a beautiful lime green comforter with a white rose design. There was a desk in the corner and next to it was a beautiful wooden bookshelf that covered half of the wall.

"Wow, did you do this?" I asked him with a smile.

He nodded sheepishly, "With help from a friend."

"Thank you!" I embraced him tightly.

I tossed my stuff on the bed and he said, "Well I'm going to let you and Athena get settled, pizza or Chinese?"

"Definitely Chinese." I said quickly. As he left the room, he closed the door softly. Athena was staring at me. "What girl? Alright I'll take you on a run soon okay, let me get dressed." She started wagging her tail at the word run, and I quickly threw on some running clothes.

We went downstairs to put on my shoes and I called out to Charlie, "Hey we're going running okay? We'll be back for dinner!"

I knew she didn't need a leash, so we just left the house. I made my way down the street, starting with a soft gait. But as we made our way to some forest trails, I picked up my pace and started some interval training. Athena was having the time of her life, sniffing things all around her and then sprinting to catch up with me, not letting me get out of her sight.

However, I was slightly concerned when she didn't catch up with me once, and I backtracked to find her. "Athena!" I called out, searching the trail for her.

I heard her bark and I jogged over to where she was. She was in a beautiful endless meadow. Flowers of bountiful color were growing all around long wispy grass that was flowing with the slight breeze, making it look like soft ocean waves. The meadow was enclosed by mountains and forests. A small, rocky stream flowed through it. It belonged in a movie.

Athena looked pleased with herself for finding a beautiful meadow such as this. I squatted down and gave her a pat on the head. "Wow girl, this is beautiful."

We stayed there for much longer than we hoped, as we watched the sunset. Before it was completely gone I realized that it setting meant that we would have to run in the dark. In the forest. Alone. My eyes widened and I quickly got up, scaring my dog. "Let's go girl!"

I practically sprinted through the woods, and as I started making back to civilization, I almost got hit by a speeding Volvo. "Hey asshole! Slow down!" I yelled at the car that kept going.

Shaking my head I kept running home. I made it about 10 minutes after the sun set. Charlie was sitting on the couch watching sports. "How was your run?"

I smiled at him, still slightly out of breath, "Good, sorry we're so late. Athena found this beautiful meadow in the woods!"

He laughed, "Glad you had fun. There's some food on the table. I got the spiciest thing I could find for you."

"Thanks!" I called out over my shoulder as I walked into the kitchen. Grabbing one of her bowls, I gave Athena her dinner of kibble, and then grabbed my own carton of food and joined my father on the couch. We started watching a game but then the day's events caught up with me and I got up to go to bed.

Giving Charlie a kiss on the head I said, "Well I'm tired so I'm heading to bed, night!"

"Wait I have a surprise for you. I know you're heading to school tomorrow and I figured, well I'll show you." He got up off the couch and led me into the garage. He turned on the light to reveal the old truck that as a little girl I had always wanted.

Beaming at him I gave him a hug, "Thanks Charlie. I can finally drive him!"

He laughed and tossed me the keys, "Night kid."

I skipped up the stairs, quickly showering and getting ready for bed. When I got in my room I grabbed my phone, seeing two missed calls from my mom, Renee. I decided to call her back before she thought my plane crashed.

She picked up on the first ring and answered with a worried tone, "Hello?"

"Hey Mom, I'm calling to let you know I didn't die or anything." I said sarcastically.

"Isabella! Don't do that to me! You were supposed to call right after your plane landed! I've been worrie-" She couldn't finish her sentence because I heard Phil mutter something to her, and she giggled. Gagging I remembered how they are still in their honeymoon phase. "Sorry honey I have to go, I love you!"

She hung up before I could answer back. That was Renee for you. She was very flaky, and well I was more of the mother in our relationship than her. Hell she was dating a guy who was 28 when she was 42! But I knew she loved me, and I wouldn't want her any other way.

I jumped into my bed and pulled the covers over me. Athena hopped onto the bed as well and snuggled up to me. We both knocked out and before I knew it my alarm clock was ringing, telling me that it was 6:00, or in other words, time to get up.

Athena was the first to hop off the bed, excited for both a walk as well as her breakfast. I got ready quickly, throwing on a pair of nice jeans, and a nice flowery tank top with a matching cardigan. Walking downstairs I found Charlie looking puzzled at the directions for pancakes.

"Morning!" I said, breaking him out of his focus.

"Oh hey kiddo." He said distractedly and then realized something. "How about I take Athena out on a walk, and you tackle the pancakes?"

I laughed and nodded, knowing that he couldn't cook for his life. "How did you ever live without me?" I got started on the pancakes right away. These were the easy kind too, the ones that only require two ingredients. But I decided to add a slight spin to them, mixing in some vanilla, cinnamon, and blueberries. I had finished making plenty of pancakes for each of us by the time Charlie got back with Athena. They both came into the kitchen panting and looking as hungry as a pack of wolves.

I gave my dad a plate of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup, and I made my way over to Athena's almost empty bag of kibble. She sat patiently, a little bit of drool hanging from her mouth. I laughed at her, and put the bowl down and then giving her the command to eat.

I then quickly ate my pancakes and cleaned up the few dishes. "So Bells, I have to go, but I'll come back home at lunch and take Athena out on a walk. But I won't be back until 7 tonight."

I nodded at him and said, "Sounds good. I'll just make dinner later. Athena and I need to stop by the store anyway."

As he walked out the door he called out, "Have fun at school!"

"Have fun at work!" I called back mockingly.

Ten minutes later it was my turn to leave, and I grabbed my school bag and made my way to the garage, where my truck was parked. "Bye Athena! Behave!"

I hopped in the car and started it, hearing its old engine made me smile. It was a 10 minute drive to school, and I quickly found a parking spot in the small lot. Forks High School was a small school, with a graduating class of about 100 students. I turned off the engine and sat in my car for a few moments.

Taking a deep breath, I got out the car to face the questioning faces of all the people. I knew this was a small school, so a new person would be a big deal, and I did not like having that much attention, unless I was on the soccer field. Head down, feet shuffling, I made my way to the front office.

The lady looked up from her computer and gave me a smile, "Hi you must be Isabella Swan here to get your schedule?"

I nodded shyly and said, "Yes, but people call me Bella."

She smiled and said, "Bella it is then. Here's your schedule, you sure have a handful there."

"Thank you!" I said appreciatively. I looked at my first class, Pre-Calculus, great. I turned back around and looked at the lady once more. "Uhm, by any chance can you tell me how to get to my first class?"

"Oh yes of course!" She looked around her and then noticed someone walking by, and opened a window to call out to the girl. "Alice! Alice! I have a favor to ask of you!"

The short girl, with spiky, jet black hair practically danced into the room. "Yes Mrs. Goldberg?"

"Can you show Bella here around?"

Alice looked at me happily, with a huge smile on her face. "Ah so you must be the new girl everyone is talking about. My name's Alice, nice to meet you Bella!"

Her smile was contagious and I smiled back at her. "Likewise!"

"Let me see your schedule, we might have some classes together!" She said to me as we walked out the office, waving goodbye to Mrs. Goldberg.

I passed her my schedule and watched as she smiled at it, "Well we have first together, as well as third, and seventh! Plus we have lunch too!" I laughed at her enthusiasm as she linked arms with me and announced, "I'm going to introduce you to all my friends, come on!"

We practically skipped down the hallway, and I blushed at all the glances. We stopped in front of a locker and she said, "I'm pretty sure this one is yours! Oh wow you lucked out huh? Our class is right there." She said pointing to a door a couple of lockers down. "Oh look there goes Jasper, meet me in class? I'll save you a seat!"

And with that, she skipped off. How a person could have so much energy was beyond me, but I smiled regardless. I fumbled with my locker combination a few times until I got it right. Pulling out a few things to make the locker mine, such as a picture of Athena, my favorite soccer player Rooney, and a couple other pictures, I taped them on and smiled at my work. I put all the books that I had received earlier from Mrs. Goldberg, and put them inside my locker, grabbing the ones that I needed before lunch.

I heard the first bell ring and I quickly made my way to the classroom. There were several girls surrounding what I assumed was the teacher, but I couldn't see. Slipping past them, I made my way over to a waving Alice and a group of her friends.

"Hey Bella!" Alice greeted cheerfully. "Well I guess I should introduce you to everyone-"

A stunning blonde girl interrupted her. I swear this girl could pass as a model, she had long blonde hair that was straight, but framed her face beautifully. Her bright blue eyes were brought out by the way she did her makeup. I felt plain in comparison, but the truth was I paled in comparison to everyone out of this group. "Alice I'm pretty sure I can introduce myself. Hi I'm Rosalie. Bella is it? Nice to meet you."

I smiled at her and before I could respond to her, a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes to match spoke up. "I'm Jasper, Rosalie's brother. Nice to meet you Bella." Just hearing his voice made me calm, he had a very laid-back appearance.

"It's nice to meet you guys! So where's the teacher?" I questioned.

"Sick again I assume. But we have Coach Cullen here to sub." Rosalie said with a laugh.

I raised one of my eyebrows, "Coach Cullen, or Edward, is my cousin." Alice said with a laugh, "But he also Coaches the girls' soccer team."

I perked up at the word soccer, "So there's a soccer team here?"

Rosalie laughed, "Yeah we may be a small school, but our girls team is pretty kick ass if I do say so myself."

We all laughed, "So you play Rosalie?"

"Call me Rose. Yeah, why do you?" She questioned.

I gave her a huge smile, "It's my life. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you guys have a team. Charlie, er my dad, said that this school was missing some sports teams, but he wasn't sure which ones."

"Are you guys almost done talking about sports? You know how much I don't like them Rose!" Alice whined.

We laughed at her and Rose said, "Wait one more thing, Bella you should come to tryouts tomorrow! We could use some talent that is if you can take Coach Cullen!"

"I've met some pretty bad coaches; he can't be all that bad!" I replied.

Alice was the one to speak this time, "He's not terrible, but he does have his moments."

Rose nodded in agreement. "Yeah sometimes he is pretty chill, but he knows when someone has potential and really pushes them."

"He practically kills Rose at practice!" Alice laughed.

Before Rose could respond, a voice called out, "Alright class time to settle down."

I hadn't even heard the bell ring! The girls surrounding the teacher started to dissipate and revealed the man who I had seen at the airport. I thought I recognized that velvety voice!

"Alright are we ready to begin now?" He asked with a smile. "I think that your teacher left a packet or something for you guys."The whole class moaned at the thought of a lot of work. "But she also said that you guys can work together."

Everyone cheered at that. Coach Cullen sat down at the desk and propped his feet up, watching the class. I tried my best to avert my eyes and make sure there was no eye contact. I felt someone poke me from behind. I turned around and saw that some guy had poked me.

"Hey I'm Mike, you're the new girl right?" He said with a smile. He had baby blue eyes with a baby face to match. His blonde hair was combed back in a fashion that made me think he spent more time on his hair, than I did on my wavy brown hair.

"Yeah, I'm Bella, nice to meet you." I said amicably feeling the heat rush to my cheeks.

I heard Rose speak up, "Oh no you don't Mike, she's my partner!"

"Come on Rosalie! I was just introducing myself!" He complained.

"Than you won't mind me taking her from you." She said and pulled my desk close to hers. Mike frowned and I muttered a sorry and quickly moved closer to Rose. She said, "Bella, you can do so much better than him I promise."

I laughed at her, "Rose it's my first day, calm down."

She smiled at me and then called to Alice, "Isn't it our duty to keep her away from bad suitors?"

"Of course Bella! We have known these people for a very long time! And plus your too pretty for them." Alice said nonchalantly.

I shook my head at them, blushing. I didn't respond because I heard Coach Cullen call out to Rose. "Rosalie, don't make me make you run laps after school!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please. We're in school not the field." He gave her a disapproving look and she spoke once more, "Alright alright. Come on Bella!"

We breezed through the packet, mostly because I had already done this chapter at my old school. Soon enough the bell rang and I bid goodbye to my friends with promises that I'd meet them for lunch and how I'd see Alice in third period. Before I left though, I walked up to Coach Cullen.

"You're the soccer coach right?" I asked him shyly. I could feel a slight bit of heat rush to my cheeks.

He nodded and smiled, "Yeah, do you play?"

It was my turn to nod and I said, "Mhm, I was wondering about tryouts, they're tomorrow?"

"Yes, but make sure that you have all the paper work signed and everything or we can't let you play. It's all on the website." He responded.

"Alright thank you!" I said and walked out of the class, not sure if I should say bye or not.

"See you then!" I heard him say.

That caused me to blush, and I walked quicker. The next few classes went by fast and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I slowly made my way to the cafeteria. What if I couldn't find Alice and Rose? What if I had to eat lunch alone? I started to panic until I saw Alice walk up to me.

"Hey Bella! Come over here! Did you pack your lunch or do you need to go get some?" She asked with a friendly smile. She was just like an energetic pixie. I had a feeling her and Athena would get along splendidly.

"No I'm good, I brought mine." I said slightly shy.

"Alright, well we are right here, you can sit next to Rose and I!" She said, skipping over and pulling me down.

I laughed at her enthusiasm. I looked at the table and noticed that there was an addition. A burly boy, who really looked like a man, was sitting across from Rose. He had dark curly hair and hazel eyes, with adorable dimples accenting the rest of his face. There were massive muscles all over his body, it was like he was a personal body guard or something.

"Hi I'm Emmet! You must be Bella, Rose told me all about you!" He said with a big smile.

"Nice to meet you!" I responded.

Rose leaned over to give him a kiss, which started to turn into a make out session. I blushed for them and waited for them to break away. They didn't. So Jasper cleared his throat and they both broke away, not looking sheepish at all.

"Don't worry Bella, they're dating." Alice said cheerfully.

"I'd certainly hope so." I said and they all laughed. The rest of the day went by smoothly and before I knew it, I was in my truck driving home. All in all it seemed like a very successful day. I had made some friends, did well in school, and even heard about tryouts. I walked into the house gleefully calling Athena.

"You ready to go to the store girl?" I asked with a smile. She wagged her tail cheerfully and skipped over to get her leash. I laughed at her and threw down my bag, and grabbed my wallet and keys. Charlie had left me some money to buy some groceries. We both jumped into the truck and drove down the road into town, cheerfully belting out the lyrics to the songs on the radio. Well I was singing, Athena was howling at either my bad voice, or the song as well.

I parked at the grocery store and put Athena in the bed of the truck, telling her to stay there. She looked sad that she couldn't come with me inside the store. I grabbed a cart and went through the store, stocking up on plenty of pasta, vegetables, rice, cereal, and other stables that my dad lacked. I made my way to the pet isle and grabbed Athena a big bad of kibble as well as some new treats.

When I finally made it to the register, I had a full cart and spent about two hundred dollars. I pushed the heavy cart to my car and piled the groceries in the back. Athena and I were driving when we passed by a sporting goods store. I quickly pulled over and parked. Letting Athena into the bed once more, I walked into the store.

Not being able to admire the store as much as I wanted, I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Bella?"

I turned around and saw Mike from math class standing there in a worker's outfit. "Oh hey Mike, you work here?"

He beamed proudly at me, "Of course, this is my family's store. Newton's Sporting Goods."

"Oh okay!" I said rather awkwardly, trying to slide away from him.

"Do you need any help?" He asked.

Damn it, I actually needed his help. "Uh actually I do. Where is your soccer section?"

"Oh I'll show you! You play soccer? I had you pegged as a volleyball player!" He said too cheerfully.

I grimaced slightly at that. "Nope. Everyone says that."

"It's probably because of your legs." He said calmly, but quickly realized he had said it out loud. "Because they are so muscular! Not that it's a bad thing!"

"It's okay Mike don't worry." I responded. We had finally made it to the soccer area, and I hoped he would go away, but instead he hounded around me. I quickly picked up a couple pairs of soccer socks, I had to leave mine at home because I didn't have any more.

We walked to the register where he rung me up. As if following me around the store wasn't enough, he also 'showed me the way out'. He saw Athena and smirked, "Is she yours?" And walked over to pet her roughly, and then jumped back and cowered when she growled at him.

I chuckled silently. "Yeah, she's picky with who she likes." He nodded, still scared, and I took this an as opportunity to escape. "Well bye!"

Athena hopped in and gave me a sloppy dog kiss. I whispered to her, "Good girl, that Mike sure is annoying."

I waved bye to him as I drove away. We made it home and Athena helped me bring in some of the lighter groceries. I started on dinner and it was finished right as Charlie came home.

"Hey Bells, smells good in here!" He called out. "How was school?"

"It was pretty good! I made a couple of friends and I learned when tryouts are!" I said excitedly, passing him a plate of lasagna and salad.

"Thanks. When are tryouts? Who'd you meet?" he asked.

"Tryouts are tomorrow, and I met Alice Cullen? She showed me around, and her friends Rosalie and Jasper Hale, as well as Rosalie's boyfriend Emmet. They are all really nice." I finished with a smile.

Charlie nodded, "I know Alice's dad, nice man. He works at the hospital, head surgeon."

We finished dinner and Charlie covered dishes this time. I went on another run with Athena and watched the sunset once more. Then I came home and did homework. As I lay down in bed, I thought about all the people I had met today. Alice was one of the most cheerful people I have ever met, and she seemed like she could be a really close friend. Rose, even though I admittedly was jealous of her looks, she was extremely nice, and if I made the team it would be amazing to have a friend who also loved soccer. Jasper and Emmet seemed like fun, and I always liked having guy friends around, they always made things exciting.

And then there was Coach Cullen, or Edward. I blushed as I thought about our insignificant conversation. It was selfish of me, but even though I knew about tryouts, I still wanted to hear it from him. I fell asleep that night, excited for not only soccer tryouts, but seeing Coach Cullen again.

* * *

**A/N: Well here's a new story idea I have. This chapter is really slow, but it was to explain Bella's situation and was actually needed haha. Please stay with me! I promise it will get better! But anyway, next chapter is tryouts! Will Bella make it? Sorry I'm a sucker for these kind of romances . Well just tell me what you thought about it! Anything you thought was aloof don't be afraid to let me know!**

**~Love it?~**

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**~Review!~**


	2. Chapter 2

Breathe Bella, breathe, I told myself as I made my way down to the locker room. I had carried my Nike soccer bag around with me all day. Rosalie was talking to me the whole time we were walking to the locker room, but I hadn't heard a word she said.

"Bella. Bella. Bella! Did you hear me at all?" Rose pestered, huffing annoyed at me.

"No sorry, I'm a bit nervous." I said sheepishly.

She gave me a comforting one armed hug, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I was asking you if you wanted to go down to La Push with us on Friday?"

"Oh sure! That sounds like fun! Do they allow dogs there?" I asked, immediately thinking about how Athena loves the beach.

"I'm pretty sure! No one really patrols the beach so I don't think it really matters!" She said with a laugh.

We made it to the locker room and I quickly changed into my soccer clothes. Rose and I both were finished around the same time and I started to walk to the field, but she stopped me and told me we were going to stop at a classroom first to drop off all our paperwork.

It turned out we went to the same classroom where Coach Cullen subbed our math class. He was waiting there along with plenty of other girls. It was almost like the normal thing for him to be surrounded by girls, flirting blatantly with him. The room was practically filled with girls dressed in exercise, granted some of them were wearing shorts that hardly covered their back ends, and tank-tops that were definitely not made to play soccer in, or any sport for that matter.

Rolling my eyes at them, I placed my paperwork in the pile and went to take a seat in the back of the classroom. Rose joined me after saying hi to a few girls along the way. She took notice on how I shocked I was at the amount of girls in the room and said, "Don't worry, most of the girls here will play JV, and they only come to see Coach Edward anyway. It's kind of pathetic really; they throw themselves at the poor guy."

That made things click together much nicer. However I couldn't help but wonder what Rosalie would say if she knew what I thought about Coach Edward. "That's insane." I leaned closer to her and whispered, "I bet half of them can't even run a mile."

She laughed loudly at my comment and said, "I know! A mile is my warm-up!"

"I go running with my dog, and we do about 8 miles. My dog can probably run longer than half of these girls." I chuckled at my own comment.

She laughed as well and we started talking, until Coach Edward called everyone's attention. "Alright girls, has everyone turned in their paperwork?"

There were choruses of yes's, and he continued. "Alright great. Now I want you girls to know that I need you to give 100% today. There are plenty of other girls here who all would love to make varsity, but in order to make it, you need to be able to perform at your best."

He started pacing slightly, and he made sure to look at everyone, but I felt as if his gaze was lingering on mine longer than other girls. He kept going on about us giving our all and other typical things that coaches say before you play, and then finished with, "Alright girls, let's head out to the field. Can some of you grab some of the equipment on your way?"

A lot of the girls just kept walking past all the things so when I passed them, I grabbed a bag of soccer balls, as well as a ladder and some cones. Rose also grabbed a bag as well as some pennies. We made our way to the soccer field and put on the rest of our gear. Finishing before her, I decided to start juggling while I waited for her.

She finished and we started passing the ball between us as we waited for the other girls to finish getting ready. Once most of the girls got their gear on, we started rallying everyone up, or more so Rose than me. "Alright girl's, to start we have to run a mile." There were groans from all around the group. "Come on a mile isn't that bad ladies!" We all lined up on the track and I smiled as I noticed it was Alice who was the timer. I waved at her and she waved back, giving me a thumbs up while mouthing good luck.

She blew a whistle and we all took off. It was Rosalie and I in front of the rest of the pack. I looked over at her and smirked, it was only four laps and we were both getting competitive. The first one went by quickly. After the third I could tell Rosalie couldn't keep up the speed that we were going and I picked up my pace. I finished first out of everyone with a time of 5:33. Rose came in with a 5:46. Alice gave us both high fives, saying that we both made up for her lack of athletic ability.

I didn't notice Coach Edward sitting there until he said, "Good job girls. You left them eating your dust, quite literally."

Rosalie and I giggled and high fived each other. "And we could totally still take you!" Rose said her tone very cocky.

"Oh really? I think I might have to take you up on that!" He said with a crooked smile. I swear my heart stuttered. Oh no not good, Bella you will not be one of those girls! "Alright girls one lap, whoever finishes first, gets to skip after practice sprints!"

"You're on!" I said, feeling my competitive edge coming out. The three of us lined up on the line and Alice counted down for us. We all shot out, sprinting as fast as we could. I didn't notice Rosalie slow down because I was so busy trying to beat Coach Edward. We weaved through the girls who were still lagging behind. It was close, we were close, but I beat him in the final few yards.

"I let you win!" He joked with me.

"Yeah sure, but a deal's a deal! No sprints for me!" I called out as I went to grab my water. "Rose what happened to you?"

"I knew the two of you would beat me." She said, "Your dog has you in too good of shape!"

We laughed and talked for a while as the final girls came in, with times of 12 minutes. We quickly stretched and got to playing. We started with juggling, and then moved onto a few drills designed to show off our skills, such as passing, dribbling, and shooting.

"Alright girls I want you to show me a few tricks that you know." Coach called out to us with his velvet voice.

We started dribbling around and showed off our skills. I did a few step-overs, scissors, maradonnas, and a couple of in motion rainbows. When he saw enough of us, he broke us up into two teams and we scrimmaged. Luckily Rose and I ended up on the same team and we creamed the other team. Rose would dribble the ball up through the defense, and then pass to me, where I would juke out a couple of defenders and then take a shot on a girl who clearly didn't want to be goalie.

We finished tryouts with Coach Edward talking to us. "Alright girls, you all have done nicely and I feel that this is going to be a hard decision. We might have to have another day of tryouts, but hopefully not. I should have the results of varsity and junior varsity up by Friday." Again it seemed like he was looking at me more than other girls, "I know we have a lot of talent on this field so let's hope for another good season!"We all cheered and then started chatting.

"Swan!" I heard Coach Edward call.

I quickly turned around and jogged over to him, "Yeah Coach?" I asked shyly.

"I need to see a couple of things before you leave." He said simply.

I nodded and followed him back on the field, where he had a couple of cones set up for me to dribble through. I took a deep breath, "Are you nervous?"I nodded reluctantly in response. "Why? There's no need to be."

He had me juggle a couple of times, dribble and stop, other ball control activities, and then I had to shoot at him. "Just relax. Alright okay. You know, if you hit it more like this," he took my leg and showed me a better way to position my leg, "You will get so much more power without having to kick so hard."

I blushed when he touched me and I was only able to nod in response. I thanked god that I had shaved my legs last night.

He gave me a curt nod and said, "Alright thank you."

I jogged back over to the girls, and quickly took off my cleats and threw on slip on shoes. "Hey what did he want you to do?" One of the girls, Lauren asked me. She was one of the bitchier ones, who thought she was amazing. She was alright, but not as good as she thought she was.

"Just a couple more skill things." I replied simply, trying to shake her off.

"Oh really? I bet he just didn't like what he saw." She said, speaking in more way than one. I rolled my eyes at her and shrugged her off by talking to Rose as we walked away.

Lauren managed to catch up and grabbed my shoulder and pulled it to her snarling in my ear, "Listen, he's mine."

I turned to face her, "First of all, don't touch me. Second of all, he's all yours. I'm here to play soccer, not flaunt my boobs around in front of the coach."

She looked shocked, I just kept walking away. I heard her jog over to Coach calling him by his first name. I looked over at Alice and Rosalie who were giving me a smirk. "What?" I asked them innocently.

"Oh you know perfectly well what you did." Rosalie said with a proud smile. "She's learning so fast!"

"I know already sticking up to Lauren!" Alice giggled.

I shook my head at them, "Oh come on, you know she's a bit ridiculous!"

The agreed as we found ourselves in the parking lot. We had all parked near each other, and I was stunned to know that the Porsche I had parked next to was Alice's. "Can I…Touch it?" I asked her timidly.

She laughed at me, "This is my baby, you may touch, but only once!"

I laughed and practically petted her car. "I'm jealous. But my big guy right here gets me where I need to go." I said proudly, tapping my red truck affectionately.

They just laughed and we bid each other goodbye. I made it home quickly and had to take Athena out on her daily run, even though I was exhausted. We did what we normally did and once again, we were almost hit by that same speeding Volvo. That selfish prick who was driving it didn't even slow down when he passed by the entrance to the trails! "Asshole slow down!" I screamed when he came dangerously close to hitting Athena.

I made Charlie and I a quick dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, so it was almost ready when he came home. "Sorry Charlie, but I had tryouts and then Athena needed her walk…"

"It's okay kiddo, I have to shower anyway." He said with a happy pat on my head.

The rest of the week went by rather quickly, I had minimal contact with Coach Edward, except for several times when he would sub for my classes and we had some lasting eye contact. But then Friday morning in the hallway he frustrated me. I was walking while texting my mom, when I felt a pat on my head. It turned out that he had playfully hit me in the head with a stack of papers. He said hi and asked how I was doing. I felt as if he saw me as a child, and I know I shouldn't be frustrated about that but I was. Getting mad at myself for thinking like that, I was clearly worked up when I made it to lunch.

"Emmet, you owe me twenty-five dollars!" Jasper called out to Emmet.

"What? No! She doesn't look angry! Just…frustrated!" Emmet yelled at him.

"Same thing!" Jasper groaned.

"I refuse to give you twenty-five dollars!" Emmet replied passionately.

"Oh you two boys shut up!" Rose said.

"But babe!" Emmet whined to Rosalie, pouting like a child.

Rosalie just rolled her eyes and scolded him like a mother would to a child. "Emmet not right now."

"What's wrong Bella?" Alice asked, concerned. "You seem…Down? They haven't posted the results yet have they?"

I momentarily forgot about tryouts, "What results? Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about those!" I started panicking. What if I didn't make varsity? And just about a million other what ifs formed in my head.

"Bella calm down, you did amazing during tryouts, there's no way he won't put you on varsity." Rose said with a bite of her salad.

I played with the leftover pasta I had packed, suddenly not feeling very hungry. "So are we still going to La Push tonight?" I asked them, as a change of subject, hoping that they would forget my previous mood and not ask me. I couldn't lie to them! They've been so nice to me!

"Of course! Do you know how to get there Bella?" Alice questioned, I hadn't told them that I had lived here a long time ago, and visited a couple of times.

"Oh yeah, I used to live here. Actually I'm pretty sure an old friend lives on the Reservation!" I said, suddenly remembering Jacob, my childhood best friend. We had stayed in touch when we were younger, but when he went into middle school, he stopped responding. Thus breaking my middle school girl's heart, I had the biggest crush on him. I hadn't seen him in years, and I had always just played him off to have grown up into a lanky boy who spent all his time working on bikes.

"You used to live here?" Alice asked curiously.

"Yeah a long time ago. My mom and dad divorced when I was five, so I don't remember much of when I lived here, but I visited during the summer of 7th grade." I told them calmly.

We kept talking about my life, and my family, until the bell rang. The rest of school went by rather quickly and soon I found myself walking with Rose to the bulletin board to see if we had made the team. I knew Rosalie was going to, but I wasn't quite sure about me.

We made it to the list and I couldn't look. I was too nervous, not only did this decide if I was going to play a more competitive soccer, but it also decided if I was trained by Edward or if I was trained by someone named James, who coached JV.

I cringed at the list, asking Rosalie to look at it first, but not to look for my name.

"Bella that is ridiculous, I'm sure you made it. But whatever." She said and then searched for her name, smiling when she found it. "Yes! Varsity, alright Bella. It's your turn!"

"Alright well, don't be surprised if-" I searched the list when I found my name, I stopped. I tried swallowing the lump in my throat and felt tears prick at my eyes.

"So? What's the verdict?" Rosalie questioned with a confident smile, like she had this firm belief that she was right and couldn't be wrong at all.

I cleared my throat, "I'm on JV."

Her smile wiped clear off her face and she practically shrieked. "What?"

"Yeah." I gave a nervous laugh, trying to keep myself together. Why was I so upset? I had this feeling since tryouts that something like this would happen. It always does. "But hey it doesn't matter. I'll just try harder next time."

She looked incredibly shocked, "I can't believe this. I was so excited to have you as center mid! You deserve Varsity! Lauren made Varsity!"

My eyebrows rose at that. "What?"

"Yeah! Look!" She said and pointed to her name on the list, which was assuredly under the Varsity section.

"Wow. I don't know maybe he thinks he can make her better?" I reasoned, even though inside I was wondering why the hell her name was there instead of mine. I knew she was a pretty decent player and could be on varsity, but I had much better ball handling skills than her!

"Oh please. Come on, let's go." She said, pulling me away.

I stopped her, "Wait Rose, we have a mandatory team meeting in the classroom."

She let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine. I still can't-"

"Rose, let it go." I interrupted, slightly frustrated. Not only was I sad that I didn't make it, but I was most upset at myself for not trying harder.

We walked into the classroom and I sulked to the back of the room once more, averting everyone's eyes, especially Coach Edwards. Rose took a seat beside me, I could feel her anger radiating off her, she was practically steaming.

"Alright girls, I hope that you all are content with the choice that James and I had to make." Rose scoffed loudly here, earning her a few puzzled glances. "A problem Miss Hale?"

"Yeah-" She started to say, but I clamped my hand on her mouth before she said something we both regretted. I shook my head and waited for him to continue, which meant that I had to look him in those gorgeous emerald eyes. I quickly averted my eyes once more and focused on the ground.

"Anyway, for those of you on JV," I could feel his eyes on me as he said this. "I want you to meet Coach James, he wasn't able to be here for tryouts, but I assure you he is an excellent coach."

I had to look up to see this guy. For a man he had long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had slightly droopy dark blue eyes, like a storm in the middle of a tempest. He had crooked teeth, that didn't compliment an unpleasant smile. He appeared to be around the same age as Coach Edward.

Coach Edward kept talking, but I zoned him out, not wanting to hear about Varsity when I wasn't on the damn team. "Alright ladies, I'm looking forward to an amazing season with you. Come talk to me if you have any questions." He finished with a clap of his hands and a charming smile that I could see from the corner of my eye.

"Hey Rose what time-" I started to ask Rosalie, but then I realized she wasn't there and was making her way over to Coach Edward. I felt my heart plummet into my stomach and then beat erratically, like I was on some sort of rollercoaster. I cursed under my breath and turned my gaze downward, trying to listen to their conversation.

"So Bella, which team are you on?" I heard Lauren Mallory ask me.

I rolled my eyes at her, "JV, what about you?"

"Varsity." She said the word like she was winning some sort of beauty pageant. "I guess all that running didn't pay off. Which means that when he called you back-"

"Hey Lauren? Right now I really don't care," I started getting up and grabbing my bag. "So have fun over the weekend or whatever the hell you do." I finished, walking away, practically steaming from both embarrassment as well as anger.

I almost made it out the door when I heard Coach Edward call my name; I turned to look at him and Rosalie, who had a triumphant smirk plastered on her face. Oh dear god, what has she done. He waved me over, so I complied.

"So Bella, your friend here has been telling me how unfair my decision was. Do you think that you're on the wrong team as well?" he asked me calmly.

I sighed, "No sir. I respect your decision." I looked into this eyes as I said that, waiting

"Oh come on Bella you know that you are good enough for Varsity!" Rose complained from the side.

He put his left hand on the desk behind him and paused before leaning back onto it. It was then that I noticed something that had completely slipped my mind before. On his ring finger was a golden band, this brought back the memory of him at the airport, hugging the strawberry blonde girl, and her kissing him passionately. I blushed at the memory as well as my stupidity.

"Alright how about this Bella, I give you extra one on one training, and you can be on varsity. But only if your dedicated." He responded. I tried to discreetly search his face to see if he was lying, leaving me embarrassed when he cleared his throat and asked, "Bella?"

I blushed profusely, "Oh yes of course! After school, before school?"

"How about I text you on each day? It depends on if I'm subbing that day or not." He responded, folding his muscular arms across his body.

I practically gulped right here, one on one sessions with this man? Oh lord help me. "Alright, here I'll give you my number." I said, taking a piece of paper out of my notebook and quickly scribbling my number on it. I could see Rose smiling victoriously from my peripheral vision.

"Thank you Coach, you won't regret it! I promise!" I called out as we left the room. The second we were out of earshot Rose and I looked at each other and squealed like the teenage girls we were.

"Thank you so much Rose! I'm not going to lie I hated you when I saw you left, but now I love you!" I hugged her tightly.

"Don't thank me! You deserve it!" She cheered.

We both hugged goodbye once more when we made it to our cars, she was hitching a ride with Alice since she didn't have her own car. "We'll see you at the beach!" They both called out to me.

"That is if you're sure that thing can take you to the beach?" Alice said, looking skeptically at my car.

"Don't insult Big Red!" I called out jokingly to her. "See you!"

I drove home on cloud nine. I was going to be trained by who I have heard was an amazing coach, I had friends, and I was on the varsity soccer team! I happily belting out the lyrics to all the songs on the radio until I made it to my house, and even then I kept singing.

I was surprised to see Charlie home early. "Oh hey dad. So I'm sorry but I can't make dinner tonight because it's the night I was going down to La Push, that's still okay right?"

"Of course kiddo, already having pizza delivered." He said with a smirk. I smiled back and started going up the stairs, "Oh and kiddo, congrats on making the team. You make your old man proud!"

"Thanks Charlie!" I called out to him as I made my way upstairs to throw on my bathing suit. I looked at the mirror, frowning at what I saw, plain brown hair and brown eyes. Sighing I pulled my hair into a quick braid, and put a slight bit of water proof mascara on. Makeup was not my specialty, so I never really bothered with it.

I grabbed a cover up and some shorts, before getting a soccer ball and heading back downstairs. "Alright Charlie! Athena and I are leaving!"

"Alright have fun kid! Be back by 12!" He called out to me. Athena and I jumped into the truck and before I started it I hugged her and gave her a kiss on her face, which earned me a slobbery kiss back. "Ew! Ugh no more! I have to drive girl!" I said shooing her off my lap. I started the car and made my way down to La Push. It was a dark ride through eerie forests and I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly scared a murderer would come out of the trees.

I was nervously singing the whole time, but we finally made it to the beach and I sighed when I saw Alice, Rosalie, Emmet, and Jasper getting out of their cars.

I opened the door and let Athena out first. "Hey guys!" I waved to them, taking out my beach bag as well as my soccer ball.

"Hey Bella! Aw is she yours? She's too cute!" Alice said as she and Rosalie gushed over Athena, who of course loved the attention.

I laughed at them, "And she knows it too!"

They laughed and we all made our way onto the beach. We set up a blanket and they had some snacks perched up on it. Athena ran over to grab my soccer ball and started dribbling it away from me. "Hey come back!" I called and then told her to pass it to me, which she complied, and we started playing a game with each other. Soon Rose and Emmet joined us. We played for what felt like a short time, but turned out to be several hours, and we hardly noticed a car pull up. I was too busy petting and praising Athena to notice who stepped out of the car, but I was surprised when I saw that it was Coach Edward.

"Hey Alice." He greeted her, and she automatically pouted.

"Already? Ugh I can't believe my car broke down!" She whined.

I laughed at her, I hadn't even noticed that her car wasn't here! She must have come with Jasper in his Mercedes and Rose came with Emmet in his massive Range Rover. "So Alice, you were saying what about my car?"

She groaned at me, while the others laughed. "Can I catch a ride home with you Bella?"

I nodded, "Yeah sure, but you have to share the seat with her." I pointed to Athena who was soaking wet from running into the water.

I saw her cringe slightly, "Alright I'm fine with that."

Edward laughed and said, "I haven't come to get you quite yet. I wanted to see the sunset." He said shrugging.

Alice gave him a look and he gave her a sheepish one back. Her eyes widened in some sort of realization and then she smirked at him, saying simply, "Okay."

We played some more soccer after that, with Edward joining in. He was really good, much better than anyone else, but I could tell he toned it down a little so we all could have more fun. Feeling warm, we decided to go swimming, which let me tell you, was a big mistake. This meant that Edward had to take off his shirt. So technically it wasn't my fault that I practically stared at his abs and pecks, its human nature. But I quickly snapped out of it, kind of, and took off my own cover up and joined everyone in the water.

The sun was starting to set and I watched as Rosalie and Emmet walked off to go make out somewhere, and Jasper and Alice went back to the blanket to practically snuggle. They hadn't announced that they were a couple, but I could tell it would be soon when they would.

Watching them made me feel lonely, so I announced that I was going on a walk with Athena along the beach. I heard some murmurs, but I didn't respond and kept walking. I hardly noticed that Edward was walking with me.

"Oh you're coming too?" I asked, slightly surprised.

He nodded and then gave me a lazy crooked smile, "Why is that a problem?"

I quickly shook my head, "Oh no I just wanted to make sure."

We walked in silence for a while until he broke it. "You're pretty good at soccer you know."

"Really? Not good enough for Varsity though." I said slightly sadly. As if she could sense it, Athena rubbed her face in my hand, making me laugh slightly. "You're not too bad yourself."

"I was going to put you on Varsity." He said quietly, almost to himself.

"What?"

"Yeah, but it's hard to explain." He said, shaking his head.

I stopped walking and looked into his eyes, which was mistake number one. Mistake number two was saying, "No, you can tell me."

He shook his head once more, "Never mind. You're on Varsity now, so no worries. I'm going to train the hell out of you." He joked.

"Good, I want to be better."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you think! I'm going to try and update every other day while I can. I'm planning on making this a pretty long story, so I don't want Edward and Bella to get together in the first few chapters, because where's the fun in that? ;) but I'll try not to drag things out for too long. Anyways, thanks again guys and leave a review with your thoughts on this chapter! Special shout out to _Elemental Mutant Freak,_ ** **and the two people who reviewed anonymously. You guys are so sweet and really motivate me!**

**~Love it?~**

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**~Review!~**


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on girls! Faster! These suicides are nothing!" Coach Edward bellowed at us, parading around us as we did our sprints.

Much like everyone around me, my heart was beating rapidly, and I was breathing extremely hard. I could feel my sore and tired muscles, but I knew it was worth it. If this would make me a better player, than I would do 20 more.

"Ladies pick up the pace!" He yelled once more.

Rosalie rolled her eyes at him and murmured at me, "I'd like to see him do half these sprints."

I giggled slightly, earning the immediate glare from Coach Edward who said, "Alright girls, if you have time to laugh and talk, that must mean you aren't tired enough."

The smile was wiped off my face faster than a bug on a windshield. I quickly shook my head, "No no no, It's okay. Sorry. Talking? Us? Never."

He just laughed and told our group, since we were broken up into two groups, to go get a much needed water break. I quickly jogged over to get my water, and quickly drank half of my bottle. "I really need to get one of those bigger bottles." I said to Rose.

"Yes you do. Mine holds about a gallon of water and ice." She said with a boasting grin. She then went over to talk to Angela, leaving me with two other girls on the team. It was silent until Coach Edward walked over with his usual confidant gait. He had on a lazy crooked smile, and lucky for me, had his eyes shielded by sunglasses.

He walked to a water jug that was sitting right in front of me, and started to water fall from it, I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed with each sip he took of the water. Much to my distaste, I gulped loudly, praying no one heard me. Once more he went to another bottle to water fall from. "Gatorade again." Pouting slightly, he went to another one, but once again he was disappointed, "Does anyone bring just water anymore?" He kept going on in that fashion for a few more times.

"I think that water might be in a bigger bottle, I don't think that many people would have that much Gatorade in one of those." I pointed out, sounding like the true nerd that I was. I quickly blushed as he practically brushed me off.

He went right for one that was close to me and picked it up, drinking it excruciatingly slow. When he was finished he looked at us, his gaze seemingly lingering on me when he said. "Oh well."

Practice went by rather quickly after that, it was Monday so he went incredibly hard on us since 'we've been lazing around all weekend.' However, when everyone was leaving, I was just getting started, as today was my very first one on one practice with Coach Edward, and my nerves were getting the best of me.

Rose was the last to leave, but she talked to me before she left. "So are you nervous?"

"Nervous? Why would I be nervous?" I asked, wondering if she knew about my insignificant and minuscule crush on Coach Edward.

She gave me an odd look, "Because I thought you hadn't done any one on one training before?"

"Oh yeah. I guess, I mean how bad can he be?" I said, all but letting out a sigh of relief that she didn't suspect anything. Well she probably does now Swan, smooth. "I just want to prove to him I'm just as good as anyone else you know?"

With a sympathetic smile she said, "Don't worry, you'll do fine. I'm sure he'll just see what he was missing last time."

"I'm sorry?"

She gave me another questioning look, "During tryouts? Bella are you feeling okay?"

I nodded quickly. "Yeah of course. I just need more water I think." I grabbed my spare water bottle and started to drink the warm water nervously. Out of nervousness, I drank half the bottle without even realizing it. I turned back to look at Rosalie who gave me an odd look.

"You sure you're okay?"

I nodded quickly and smiled at her, "Yeah, I just need to relax."

She grabbed her bag and then gave me a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry you'll be fine. Text me and tell me how it goes after okay?"

"Yeah of course!" I told her, waving as she started walking away. I looked over at the field where Coach Edward was setting up some cones. His back was facing me, and I took that opportunity to uh, examine his assets. Blushing, I quickly looked away before he could notice.

I jogged over to him, "So do you need any help setting this stuff up?"

He shook his head, "Nope, I'm just about done."

"So what am I going to be doing here?" I asked trying to figure out the intricate cone drill.

* * *

Three weeks later and I feel like my skills haven't gotten any better. I feel as if I've hit that brick wall and just can't get past it. I've tried digging a hole, jumping over, but nothing seems right. And it doesn't just pertain to my soccer skills, but also my relationship with Coach Edward. Frustrated with myself I jog over to Edward, watching as he placed cones on the ground. "You ready for me?"

He finished with the last few cones and then placed his rather large hands on his hips. "Well you're going to dribble through these sections of cones here, and then you're going to sprint from those cones to those. After that you're going to do the ladder, and sprint to the end."

"Okay sounds good." I said, thinking it would be easy. I started to line myself up with the start of the cones.

He held up a hand, "Not so fast. This has to be done under a minute." He said with a gleam in his emerald eyes.

"A minute?" I asked, trying to swallow some worry.

"Yeah. Alright ready?" He pulled out a stopwatch while I readied myself. "Go."

At the sound of his voice, I kicked off. Attempting to maneuver through the cones, I started stumbling over myself. Hitting yet another cone, I almost yelled in frustration as I heard him blow his whistle. I looked up at him, "Again." He said with an almost bored tone. I glared at him while he looked at his stopwatch, some coach he is.

Determined to prove myself, I decided right there and then to step up my game. Closing my eyes, I took a deep and steadying breath. I kept them closed as I waited for the shrill blow of the whistle. Starting once more, I started with a much calmer demeanor. I managed to pass through the cones with ease, then making my way to the sprint, where I quickly made it to the ladder. Soon after getting through that obstacle, I crossed the finished line, looking at Coach Edward with a smirk.

He had on a slight smirk to match my own, the cutest twinkle in his eye. Cute? Bella come on. "So how was that?" I said, a little too flirty for my liking.

"Eh, it was alright." He replied, a playful smile on his lips. He wrote a few things down on his clipboard and then looked up at me. He seemed to appraise me before speaking once more, "Alright then. Are you ready for the next drill?"

I nodded eagerly, "Yup."

He started walking backwards a little and then got into a defending stance, "Get past me." He said simply, like it was a task that could be easily completed.

"You're kidding right?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

Groaning, I grabbed a ball. I started dribbling at him, trying to fake him out with a simple stepover. However my attempt at being fancy quickly proved useless, as he stopped me with what seemed like effortless skill. Giving me his crooked smile he said, "That all you got brown eyes?"

Raising my eyebrows I asked, "Brown eyes?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "You have brown eyes right?"

Seizing the opportunity, I quickly sprinted past him, making it into the goal with ease. Turning around smiling, I placed my hands on my hips in triumph.

He came over to me shaking his head, "As smart as that was, it doesn't count."

"What?" I questioned, pouting slightly. "Why not?"

"Because I wasn't trying." He said like the answer was obvious. "Now back to the line!"

"It's not my fault you weren't paying attention." I mumbled quietly to myself.

I could hear him mumbling something else, but I couldn't make out exactly what he was trying to say. "Sorry what did you say?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. Just start again." This drill went on until the last few minutes of practice, when I finally managed to make it past him, as I was dribbling towards the goal, I felt a pair of hands pull me back.

Squealing like the female I am, I laughed as his said, "No one gets past me!"

I tried pulling him back but we both ended up tangled on the floor. Our close proximity should have made me uncomfortable, since he was my coach, but for some reason I embraced it. He seemed parked on top of me, his emerald eyes boring into my brown pools. In some sort of attempt to catch himself during the fall, he had placed his hand on the ground, slightly grazing mine. I looked down at his hand, and a golden wedding band stared back at me.

I rolled over to the side and stood up, brushing off the dead grass from my shorts. I jogged over to go grab my water, not looking back at Coach Edward. I can't have a crush on a married man, that would make me a home wrecker, and that is not something I'd like to have on my plate.

Shaking my head, I poured some water on my forehead in an attempt to cool myself off. I heard footsteps coming closer and I knew it could only be Edward's. Not quite wanting to meet his eyes for obvious reasons, I decided that stretching was a good idea.

"You're improving." He said simply, his voice breaking the silence.

I adjusted my position to touch my toes before responding. "Yeah?" I looked up to see him nod. He met my eyes and held my gaze for a few moments, before quickly looking back on his clipboard.

"Next time we'll work on your defending." He said as he wrote several things down on his paper.

Standing up, I grabbed by soccer bag and water bottle. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you Monday." Without risking looking back and meeting his gaze, I made my way to my truck. I grabbed my keys out of my smelly soccer bag, and then proceeded to toss said bag into the bed of the truck. I unlocked the car and slipped inside, where my truck should have started effortlessly.

That's just great. Fantastic. I glance around the parking lot searching for other people and not seeing anyone. Dropping my head back against the leather headrest, I moan out in frustration. Instead of taking action, I just sat there, eyes closed and thinking. I almost fell asleep when I heard a knocking on the window.

"Need help?" He asked as I opened the door. Sighing to myself, I nodded at him in response. "Alright here open the hood."

Doing as he asked I watched as he skillfully used his hands to mess with my engine, or whatever he was fixing. "How old is this thing anyway?"

"She's not a thing!" I reprimanded, my bad mood starting to lift.

He looked up at me with a playful gleam in his eye, smirking. "Oh really?"

"Yes really, she's been very reliable…Up until now." I said trying to fix things, "Well most of the time."

He laughed and the sound rang out through the parking lot, making me smile and laugh as well. "Seriously, how old is 'she'?" he said, mocking my use of personification. He wiped off his oily hands on his sweaty t-shirt. He looked down at his shirt, his face scrunched up in disapproval.

"She's not that-" I started to say but cut myself off when he proceeded to take of his shirt, revealing his carefully sculpted chest, from the pecks, to the six pack , and the v cut off by his shorts. To my embarrassment I gulped, and quickly averted my eyes. "old." I finished.

I heard the hood of the car being shut, and his voice saying "That should just about do it." I could almost hear the amusement in his voice.

Great, he totally saw me checking him out. Why me? Feeling my cheeks flame, I hopped into my car and turned it on. This time it groaned to life, I could hear Edward cheering outside. I laughed and rolled down my window still not meeting his eyes, "Thanks! Soccer, teaching, fixing cars; what can't you do?" I laughed, waving to him as I started pulling out.

The drive home was very boring, but as I pulled into my driveway I noticed a car and a motorcycle taking up space where I usually park. I got out of my car quickly and investigated the other two cars before proceeding inside.

"Hey Dad I'm home!" I yelled as I walked inside and was greeted by my favorite face, who eagerly licked mine. "Hey baby girl, sorry I've been gone so long!" She wagged her tail in response.

"Bells over here!" I heard my dad's voice call out from the living room. Athena grabbed my shirt and started pulling me towards the living room.

Curiosity still piqued, I let Athena lead me into the living room, where my dad was seated with two other men. One was an older man, with long silver hair and tanned skin, who I quickly recognized as Billy Black, my father's old friend. On the loveseat I saw another man, this one with cropped black hair atop another tanned face. He had built arms, which definitely contrasted with my idea of how he had grown up.

"Billy! Jacob?" I smiled as I leaned down to give Billy a quick hug. "Wow it's been too long!"

I turned to face Jacob, "And you! You've grown so much!" I said as I hugged him, his arms encasing me in a tight embrace.

As Jacob let me go, Billy spoke, "So have you, not the little girl you were last time I saw you. Hasn't she changed Jacob? Much more grown now."

I could see Jacob slightly blush from the corner of my eye, "Erm, yeah she's gotten a lot taller." He said as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

I heard my father and Billy both chuckle, "Alright alright, hey Bells do you think you can fry up some of the fish Billy caught?"

I nodded, "Yeah sure, just let me shower real quick and then I'll get started. Come on Athena!"  
The both of us raced up the stairs where she grabbed me a pair of shorts and I grabbed the rest. It took me ten minutes to shower and get dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror, surprised that I spent time making sure I smelled extra good. Well I guess a crush on Jacob would be a much better substitute than a crush on my coach, especially when the coach is married.

I opened the door and made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Figuring that the fish was in the refrigerator, I opened the door and started looking.

"Looking for the fish?" I heard a deep voice ask from behind me.

Jumping what felt like ten feet in the air, I slammed the refrigerator door behind me. Putting a hand on my heart I said, "Tell a girl when you sneak up on her yeah? But yes, I am."

He smiled and flashed me his perfectly white teeth, "It's in the cooler in the sink, Dad didn't want the fresh taste to be ruined by the refrigerator taste."

Laughing, I replied, "Why does that not surprise me."

I was quiet as I marinated the fish, "I would ask if you need any help, but uh, I'm afraid I'll do more harm than good." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"No worries, I've gotten pretty good at this if I do say so myself." I replied, and then silence overtook the room once more.

"You really have changed since I last saw you."

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh have I? You've done some growing up of your own."

I heard his deep laugh, "That's for sure. I'm not as scrawny, if I do say so myself."

It was my turn to giggle, "You weren't that bad!"

"Oh please, I could hardly carry two grocery bags!" He joked, smiling at me.

"You know I used to have the biggest crush on you in Middle School." I told him, surprised at my own admission.

"What?" He asked, looking much more serious this time.

"You're kidding right? Come on you had to know! It was so obvious, I practically texted you every hour on the hour!" I laughed at my own ridiculousness.

He chuckled a little as well, "That's so funny because I had the biggest crush on you in Middle School!"

"What? No way! Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, pausing with frying the fish.

"You know how it is when you're young! I didn't think you felt the same, and didn't have the balls to act on anything." He responded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I didn't know how close he was until I turned around and there was hardly any space between us. I looked up into the familiar brown eyes that I had dreamt about every night during my preteen years. We both stood there silently looking at each other until I felt a nudge push me closer.

I turned around to see a smug looking Athena, whose tail was wagging mischievously. Jacob and I both laughed in response. "Do you see that coy look in her eye? Gosh she is too smart for her own good."

"I can tell, she's a hell of a lot smarter than most of the people I know." He told me as he patted Athena's head affectionately.

* * *

"Bella. Bella. Bella. Can you hear me?" Alice's voice called out to me as she snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"I'm sorry, I was just spaced out. What were you saying?" I asked as she broke me out of my thought.

"Bella! You can't just space out on me during a story like this!" Alice whined. "As I was saying, my brother and his wife keep getting in these fights right, and so yesterday he came to our house really late. He said he was just frustrated and needed space from her, but I think he's getting ready to- Bella are you listening to me?"

I nodded quickly, "Yeah yeah I am, continue."

"Anyway, so I think he's going to end it with her. I really hope so. What do you think?" She asked me, sipping at her lunch smoothie.

When she said the word end, I could feel my heart lift. But I really wanted reality to come and crush it back down like a bug. "I don't know, I guess they could just be going through a tiny rough patch? It happens. My parents did it before they got divorced."

"But see, that's the point. Your parents got divorced!" She exclaimed, looking almost proud of herself.

"Yeah I guess you have a point." I said, looking over to the side to hide the smile that was threatening to form on my face.

Before Alice had a chance to respond, I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders. Thinking it was Emmett, I leaned into his side.

Thinking that I was going to hear Emmett, you can understand my surprise and dismay when I heard Mike Newton's annoyingly high pitched voice. I mean really, I'm pretty sure I had a deeper voice than him. It was almost like he hadn't even hit puberty yet. He had gotten increasingly annoying these past few weeks, as he tried all the time to ask me out.

"Hey Bella."

Wiggling out of his arm, I responded. "Hi Mike."

He tried putting his arm around my shoulders once more, "So I was wondering if you wanted to come over and we could-"

"Sorry Mike she's busy." I heard a voice interfere from behind me. We all turned to look at Edward, who had a stern look on his face. He was dressed in nice jeans and a button up shirt, which means he must have been subbing today. I kept trying to catch his eye, but he didn't even glance at me.

"Oh uhm, okay. Sorry for bothering you Bella." Mike said, averting his eyes and running away with his tail in between his legs like a scolded dog. Edward sat down next to me, but faced Alice the whole time.

"Ugh Mike never leaves Bella alone. I'm telling you Edward he's like a lost puppy. Always fawning over Bella's every move. It's annoying really. Anyways what are you two doing tonight? You can't be training it's been storming all day." Alice said, talking more than a recording on repeat.

"Actually we are going to do some training today." Edward said, surprising the both of us.

"We are?" I asked him.

He turned to face me, but I cleverly avoided his eyes. "Yes we are. And you know you can bring your dog too."

"What kind of training session is this?" I questioned, "Have you seen the rain outside?"

"Yup." He said, popping the 'p'." He had on his signature crooked smile, and it took a lot of effort to not smile back at him.

"Ugh wait, I didn't bring clothes today. I thought that it was going to be cancelled. Plus Alice gave me a ride here, my girl is in the shop." I informed him, waiting for some witty response.

He shrugged and said, "No worries, I'll give you a ride to your house and then we'll leave from there. Our training spot isn't at the school today."

I looked over at him, "What? Where is it then?"

His smile became wider and he gave me a quick wink, "It's a surprise."

* * *

**A/N: So I know this is super late, but school started up and my AP teachers decided to give me tons of homework, yayy! So I'll try my best to get these up as often as I can, but to my disnmay I can't make any promises for regular updates. Sorry! But thank you all so much for taking the time to read my story, I really appreciate it.**

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	4. Chapter 4

"You know I'm not very fond of surprises." I told him as we made our way down the dirt road to my house in his Volvo.

He looked over at me and gave me a crooked smile, "Yeah? Well I guess you're going to have to deal with it." His tone was joking as he flashed me another one of his brilliant smiles. I gave him a fake glare and he chuckled.

We quickly reached my house and he looked over at me, "Go grab your stuff. And your dog too, I like her more than I like you." He said teasingly.

I feigned mock offense, "Your words wound me so!" I hopped out of his car and made my way up the porch steps, where I then reached for my purse. But instead of finding my bag, my hand hit my side. I could feel the instantaneous panic hit me. Quickly realizing I had left my schoolbag inside my truck, my panic quickly turned into embarrassment.

"I think that there's a spare key around here somewhere…" I mumbled to myself, looking around the doorframe. I groaned when I saw the key perched up on the lamp above the door. Why Charlie puts it up there when I am short, I will never know. I have two choices, I can either attempt to get it myself or I can ask for help.

Being my stubborn self, I went with the first option. I tried reaching while standing on my tip-toes, unsuccessful. I tried jumping up and knocking it down, unsuccessful. I was going to try and climb the door when a body stepped in front of me, blocking my way. He reached up and grabbed the key with ease, turning around and handing it to me. But it seemed like he didn't really realized how close he was to me, and when he held up the key, his hand brushed the front of my body.

Blushing, I quickly grabbed the key before I would fall victim to his enchanting emerald eyes. From the corner of my eye I could see him rubbing the back of his neck. I unlocked the door and was greeted by an overzealous Athena.

"Hi beautiful! I know I'm sorry I had to leave you for so long!" I greeted her as I paused to give her a proper pet, belly rub and all. She barked happily at me before going to investigate Edward.

She cautiously sniffed at him and he addressed her, "Do you remember me?" In response, she wagged her tail slowly. "I take that as a yes." He chuckled and squatted down to pet her.

I placed my hands on my hips, playfully glaring at my dog. "Well you took to him quickly didn't you!"

Joyfully, Athena let out a light howl, running circles around us. "She just likes my good looks." He joked, making his best smoldering face, which was returned by a loving lick from Athena.

I giggled at his face scrunch, "Hey it's all part of the dog package!"

I took this as an opportunity to leave the room, going up the stairs before shouting down, "Make yourself at home!" In my room and quickly put on a sports bra and a shirt. I had to rummage through my pile of clean clothes to find some sliders and shorts. Opening my door I called out to my dog, "Athena! Can you get my shoes?"

I grabbed a pair of socks and quickly tied my hair back. Running down the stairs, I then made my way into the kitchen where I grabbed a water bottle and a granola bar. "Hey do you want anything? Water? A snack?"

He shook his head, looking slightly awkward. "Oh no I'm fine."

Raising my eyebrow at him I asked, "Are you sure?" He tried nodding in reassurance; however I gave him a water bottle and a granola bar anyway. Right before he could say something, Athena came trotting in with my shoes, they were tied together at the laces so that she could grab them both.

"That is one smart dog." Edward observed, slightly mumbling to himself.

I grabbed my shoes and patted the top of her head, "Good girl, now go get your leash!" I turned to see Edward giving me a weird look, "What?"

"Nothing just…Doesn't she not want to do what you're asking?"

I took a sip of my water before responding, "Actually no. Her breed was created to herd sheep independently, so if I don't give her some sort of job, she gets destructive and hyperactive."

"Wow. I couldn't train a dog to save my life." He laughed.

I laughed along with him and when Athena came trotting in with her leash, we went back to the car and started driving to some 'mysterious spot'. As we got what I assumed was closer, I started recognizing it more. He came to a tiny parking lot and parked the car, grabbing only his water and a tiny soccer ball.

"Uhm are you sure that's the right size ball?" I questioned, looking at the size 2 ball he had in his hand.

He just laughed at me said simply said, "You'll see."

Pouting I leashed my dog and followed him up the mountain. "So you're still not going to tell me where we are going?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

I groaned, "You're impossible."

He just looked back and flashed me his dazzling crooked smile in response. We kept walking up the mountain where we finally came up to a clearing. Unlike the one that Athena and I go to, this one was not as naturally decorated. Instead of flowers adorning the ground like a carpet, trees letting in slight sunlight like tiny lights, and a peaceful creep flowing through, providing the soothing background music; there was instead a muddy ground, and dull trees which surrounded the clearing. There was no creek in sight, and flowers seemed to have deemed this place inhospitable.

"Time to play some soccer." Edward said right as the rain started picking up.

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope. Now suck it up princess, it'll be fun. I promise." He said coming in close to take the ball out of my hands, the word 'promise' sounding so appealing when coming out of his mouth.

Purposely letting out a sigh I dropped the ball to my feet and started making my way to him. We played a sort of one on one game, which got pretty heated after a while.

"Come on, you're playing like a girl!" He teased me, taking the ball away from me once more.

Going in for a slide tackle, I got the ball from him, dribbling to his side of the field to 'score.' Using his insane speed, he came up beside me, where it was his turn to slide tackle me. We both ended up on the ground, the ball above my head. It was silent, the only sounds audible was the rain falling, the birds chirping happily, and our labored breaths. He then decided to reach over me to grab the ball; however, Athena had decided that she was bored with all the sights and smells around her, so she decided that in that moment she was going to jump on top of Edward.

He started falling on top of me, but quickly stopped himself, making use of the very defined arm muscles he had acquired. He followed my gaze, and then we both looked at each other, the pools of our eyes meeting in a haze of brown and green.

We stayed like that for a few moments, until we heard a bark, and the ball was snatched out of Edward's hands. We looked up at a certain black and white dog, who was going to get an earful when we got home. Edward quickly got up and helped me up.

We played for a little while longer until the rain really picked up, and we decided to try and make a break for the car. We started running as fast as we could, but the rain seemed relentless. He would turn back to make sure that I was still following and hadn't slipped or something of the sort. We came to a really slippery patch of rock and mud, and I paused, which in turn caused him to stop as well.

"This could be a bad idea!" I tried to shout over the pounding rain.

He looked torn for a moment before a crooked smile broke out on his face, and he turned around, gesturing to his back. "Alright princess, come on."

"You've got to be kidding me." I said shaking my head. "Nope. No."

"Come on, your chariot can only wait for so long!" He called out, and I could hear the laughter lacing his deep voice.

Giving out a sigh of defeat I begrudgingly hopped on his back, and wrapped my legs around his torso as he started making his way down the slippery hill. Knowing I was going to squeal, he faked a slip and chuckled as I tightened my leg grip on him and let out a yelp.

Smacking him atop his head, I chided him, "Edward! You're such a jerk!

He just kept chuckling at my anger, and soon enough we were back at the car, soaking wet. Opening the trunk, he pulled out a bag and a towel. He spread the towel on the floor of the trunk carefully and then proceeded to pick up my dog and place her right on the towel. "Stay. Stayy. Good girl." He said carefully.

I chuckled at him and he gave me a cocky smirk, "I was going to give you a dry shirt, but now I'm not quite sure…" I looked at him and gave him my signature pouty face, hoping to sway his opinion. "Fine, here's the bag, you can change in the back."

Taking the bag from his hand, I hopped into the backseat of his car and closed the door behind me. Looking back, I made sure that he wasn't peeking and then proceeded to open the bad, which contained a white button up shirt, a tie, and a thick blanket.

Taking off my soaked shirt and sports bra, I slipped the soft shirt over my head. He was a rather tall and buff guy, so the shirt went to about the point where my shorts were. Deciding that it was too cold to keep on my wet things, I took off the sliders and shorts. I looked back to see Edward's back still facing me, his hand in his wet bronze hair, something I so desperately wanted to do.

Ugh no more Bella! You can't think of your coach like that! Especially since he's married, and I don't want to be like every other girl at this school who practically throws themselves at him. And if I do, Alice would kill me!

I let out a huge sigh and rapped at the window, giving him a thumbs up to let him know I was done. Climbing into the front seat, I was not prepared for the sight that I was about to see. Edward took off his shirt outside, and turned, the rain dripping down his sculpted body.

Sculpted? Really? I can't come up with a better- wow. Being the girl that I am, no coherent thought could be completely formed in my head. I gave his abs and coveted 'V' a good stare, and then quickly averted my eyes and gave myself a quick mental slap.

"So uh, no shirt huh?" I asked, refusing to look at him because of the blush that was filling my cheeks.

"Well you are wearing my spare." He replied, as if it was a no brainer.

"I'm sorry! Do you want it? Here I can give it back!" I said quickly, the panic in my voice.

He shook his head, "No no no, keep it on. Please." His voice projected a feeling of uneasiness and a slight redness tinted his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. I raised my eyebrows at in him in confusion and he quickly said, "I uh, can't let you get sick! First game next Tuesday and all."

Athena chose that time to let her presence be known and let out a big bark, wagging her tail proudly. I looked back at her in surprise and joked, "You have something to say?"

She barked again and the both of us looked at each other and laughed. When the laughter died down, it was just the both of us studying each other. I searched his emerald green eyes for something, what I could not tell you. He was just as interested and gazed into my own brown orbs, which weren't nearly as interesting as his.

Clearing his throat we both quickly looked away and he started the car, "Well I guess I better get you home huh? School tomorrow and all."

I shook my head and gave a nonchalant shrug, "Actually I'm not going."

"What? Why not. You're not playing hookie are you? You know-" He started lecturing but I put a hand up to stop him.

"Calm down dad, I just have an appointment is all." I teased him, giggling at his overreaction.

Giving a subtle pout, he said. "I am your coach you know."

I eyed him carefully and responded, "I'm quite aware of that, you did just make me play soccer in the pouring rain in a valley of mud."

It was quiet for the rest of the ride to my house, however when we pulled up to the driveway, my father's police cruiser was parked in the driveway, and the words "FORKS CHIEF OF POLICE" painted on the side of the car never seemed quite as scary.

I looked over at Edward, who looked slightly nervous. I chuckled quietly to myself before grabbing my wet clothes and saying, "I'll wash this before I give it back. Thanks for training today, it was a lot of fun."

He gave me a crooked smile, "Anytime. Are you going to make it to practice tomorrow?"

"I don't think so," I shook my head, "No probably not, the appointment is at 1:30 and it's going to take a while."

Clearing his throat awkwardly he said, "Nothings…Um…wrong?"

I giggled at his response, "It's just a checkup, no awkward coach-player conversation needed."

I closed the door and went to the back to let Athena out. We both ran over to the door to get out of the relentless rain, and quickly got inside. Closing the door quietly and hoping my father was asleep, I tried creeping past the living room where I assumed he was sleeping or watching a game. Instead I met his curious, yet amused face coming out of the kitchen.

"Do I need to be concerned? Whose shirt is that?" He asked, eyebrows shooting up.

Coming up with a quick story I said, "Oh wow is it cold in here? Man I might get a cold, and look at that dog. So dirty. And wet. And…I should probably go take a shower huh?"

I darted up the stairs and straight into my bathroom hearing Charlie call out, "This discussion isn't over Bella!"

I quickly ran into my bathroom and only when I started the shower, and the hot steam floated around the bathroom, did I let out the most relieved sigh. How was I going to explain this to Charlie? Oh I went for a private practice with my coach, we got really wet, and so he gave me his extra shirt? That did not sound very appropriate.

I took a quick shower and contemplated all the options. I could lie, but Charlie and I were so honest with each other and I didn't want to lose his trust. So I ended up trying to find a way to tell the truth, but in a nonchalant manner. I went into my room quickly to put on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Going over to my full body mirror, I picked up Edward's shirt and held it up.

No matter what I did I couldn't get him out of my head. The way his eyes gleam when he talks about soccer, his crooked smile right before he's getting ready to tease me, his side glances at me when he pretended to look for traffic before a turn; every tiny memory keeps playing in my head.

I let out a groan and flopped on my bed, why me? Grabbing my phone I decided to send Alice a quick text,_ So here's a hypothetical question, how do you get a boy to think about you?_

I could practically hear her squeal from here and I laughed at the matchmaker's response, _What?! Who is it? And I'm sure he's already thinking about you Bella!_

I rolled my eyes, _I said it was hypothetical!_

_Stop lying._

_I'm not! It's just a thought! I have to go anyway; Charlie wants dinner._

_Not. Fair. You are coming over tomorrow after your appointment!_

_Will do_

I sent the last text and hopped off of my bed and went downstairs to face Charlie, who most likely had the worst case scenario playing out in his head, and had already called the police department to get a background check ready. So in order to prevent all that, I quickly made my way downstairs and met Charlie in the kitchen.

He looked as lost as an American Tourist in Tokyo. He was attempting to turn on the stove and had ingredients scattered across the counter. Clearing my throat to let him know I was there, I made my way over to him and gave him a soft nudge out of the way.

"I got it don't worry." I said to him, taking control of what I assumed was supposed to be sautéed chicken.

"So uh, Bells…What was the deal with you coming home in some shirt?" He asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck in an uneasy way.

"Oh I had one of those training sessions and it was storming like crazy and since my car broke down at school, Coach gave me a ride and let me borrow what he had in his trunk." I said nonchalantly. "Speaking of, have you called anyone about my car? I sent you a text."

Groaning, but surprisingly letting it go, Charlie responded, "Bells you know I'm really bad with that thing."

"Come on Dad! It's not that hard, here let me show you again." I said , about to leave my cooking station.

He shook his head, "No wait, keep cooking I'll learn later. I'm starving." He starting walking out of the kitchen but stopped at the doorframe, "And Bells? He saw my police car right?"

I had to laugh at that, "Dad! He's my Coach!"

"Mhm."

Dinner was a quick affair and before I knew it my alarm was ringing loudly, and I had to smack it to shut it off. Rubbing my eyes and yawning I quickly realized that I didn't have to go to school and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Before I went back to sleep I checked my phone for any messages.

Alice said, _You still need to tell me. Everything. My house right when you get home?_

Rosalie,_ I can't believe you're leaving me alone at practice!_

There was a message from an unknown number that read, _Are you still pretending you have an appointment?_

I guess it was the time, but I didn't register who that could have been but when Charlie came to wake me up a couple hours later, I realized that it was Edward. My Coach. My extremely attractive Coach. Who has my number. Whose number I have.

I was definitely freaking out. Do I text back? Is this allowed? Does he do this with other girls? Wait, he's married. Deciding to ignore it for the time being I got dressed for my appointment with my mind racing faster than a championship Thoroughbred.

It was 4:30 when I got back and Charlie dropped me off at Alice's. Her huge house would be extremely intimidating if the people who lived inside weren't so kind. I hopped up the stairs and rang the doorbell, where Esme greeted me warmly. "Bella dear! It's so nice to see you again!"

"Hi Esme, its nice to see you too! Thank you for letting me come over." I told her appreciatively.

Alice chose that time to interfere, "Bella you don't have to thank us! We love it when you come over here! Now come on you have some explaining to do!"

I gave Esme a quick wave goodbye as Alice dragged me upstairs and into her amazingly decorated room. It was definitely designed just for her, with its own mannequins for her to put her creations on. I walked to her desk and placed down my things, looking at the pictures she had adorning her huge mirror. There were several of her and Edward, as well as her and Rose. Hearing her give a fake cough, I decided to flop down onto her bed and waited for the storm of questions to be asked.

"Go ahead." I told her begrudgingly.

She took a quick breath, "Who is this guy? Do I know him? Does he go to our school? Are you sure he doesn't notice you? Is he in our group? Is it your friend Jacob? Oh my gosh its Jacob isn't it? Wait no, from what you told me, he was totally into you." She was pacing so hard I had to stop her before she ran a hole through the floor.

"Alice calm down! Okay. So it's not Jacob, and he definitely wasn't into me, I don't know what gave you that idea!" I responded, kind of surprised yet impressed at her deductive reasoning.

I heard my phone go off and I looked around for it, before I realized that I had placed it on her desk when I had placed my bag right next to it. We both looked at the phone, and right as I realized she was going to go for it as well, she darted up, faster than I've ever seen her run, and grabbed the phone out off the desk, reading the text.

"Skipping practice too? Tsk tsk tsk. He put a winky face after that." Alice said with a smile on her face. "This is him isn't it? Oh my gosh! Let me think who would be able to see your practice."

I almost held my breath as I watched the wheels turn in her head, but right as she reached the epiphany that she was searching for, her mother called, "Alice, Rosalie and Jasper are here!"

She started getting up when I stopped her by grabbing her arm, "Alice please. I'll explain more later just, don't tell Rose yet. Please?"

I could see the sympathy in her eyes as she looked at me for a moment, "Of course."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry again that I am such a terrible updater! But I'm in the process of writing the next chapter so :) This one wasn't really important but had some fluff, as you can tell :)**

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